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Meghan Groome, PhD, Director of K12 Education and Science & the City, New York Academy of Sciences

[Ed. note: Double X Science has started a new series: Double Xpression: Profiles of Women into Science. The focus of these profiles is how women in science express themselves in ways that aren’t necessarily scientific, how their ways of expression inform their scientific activities and vice-versa, and the reactions they encounter.]

DXS: First, can you give me a quick overview of what your scientific background is and your current connection to science?

MG: I was a bio major since age two. Growing up (and still today) I had a deep love of all things gross, icky, creepy, and crawly and a deep dislike of anything math related. My parents didn’t really know what to do with me, so a theme to my scientific background is that although I was a straight-A student in my bio classes, no one had any idea that I should be doing enrichment programs or making an effort to learn math. I figured that by being a great bio major, I would become a great scientist. So I was an excellent consumer of scientific knowledge but only realized late in life that I needed to be a producer to actually become a scientist.

Being a straight-A student doesn’t actually get you a job when you graduate from a small liberal arts college with a degree in biology and theater, and out of desperation, I took a job teaching. While I wasn’t a good scientist, I turned out to be an excellent teacher and loved the creativity, energy, and never-ending questions that go along with being a science teacher. If you teach from the perspective that science is an endless quest for knowledge, you’ll never get bored taking kids on that journey.

While my background is in biology, my graduate degree is in science education, and I study gender dynamics and student questioning the middle-school classrooms. I currently work for the New York Academy of Sciences as the Director of K12 Education and public programs and spend most of my day convincing scientists that education outreach is not only part of their jobs but a lot of fun.

DXS: What ways do you express yourself creatively that may not have a single thing to do with science?

MG: I’m also a photographer and spend a lot of time wandering around neighborhoods in Brooklyn with a special love of decaying buildings and empty lots. I love how nature conquers things that we humans consider to be permanent – like how we have to constantly beat back the invading hordes of plants and animals even in one of the most man-made environments in the world.

I was also a theater major, so (I) have a strong background in costume design and stage directing. I hate acting but love dance. If I had any talent I would have become a musical theater star but unfortunately enthusiasm and determination can only get you so far.

DXS: Do you find that your scientific background informs your creativity, even though what you do may not specifically be scientific?

MG: I find great joy in seeing how nature conquers human engineering. When I learned about Lynn Margulis’ Gaia hypothesis, I began seeing it everywhere and I think I love photography because I’m documenting the Earth fighting back.

Most of my creative energy comes from working with kids and listening to the wonderful way in which they think about the natural world. Adults can be so rigid in their thinking and are often afraid to say ideas that are out of the mainstream thinking. The older a kid gets, the more we expect them to conform to the adult way of thinking. Middle-school kids are old enough to express their wacky ideas, and young enough to not recognize that their ideas are considered “wrong.”

DXS: Have you encountered situations in which your expression of yourself outside the bounds of science has led to people viewing you differently–either more positively or more negatively?

MG: People tell me all the time “You’re not what we expected” and I’m not really sure how to respond.

In the science education world, my research is informed by my experiences teaching in a very poor district and from a social justice perspective. It’s a rather controversial theoretical framework because it says, “I have an agenda to use my research to bring about equity in an unequal world.” From a research perspective, it means you need to be explicit in your point of view and your biases and have much greater validity and reliability to show that your research is solid. My work is very passion driven so I’ve had to learn when it’s appropriate to pull out my soap box and go full-out social justice to them.

This is changing, but for a long time I kept my personality under wraps in a professional setting. It’s only now — with 10 years professional experience, great organizations on my resume, and a PhD — that I can be clever, confront those I disagree with, and even smile. Anyone who’s ever had a beer with me knows that I’m a goofball and will do just about anything to make someone laugh. I’m a science person, a theater person, a teacher, researcher, policy maker, consultant, and have seen a lot of exquisitely bad and good stuff in my life and so I am frequently the voice of an outsider even though I look and sound like a total insider. That can really freak people out especially if they’ve only read my bio or seen me in my most professional mode.

DXS: Have you found that your non-science expression of creativity/activity/etc. has in any way informed your understanding of science or how you may talk about it or present it to others?

MG: I approach teaching science from a fairly theatrical perspective. In my class we dance, sing, laugh, talk about the real world. I’ve never used the textbook, and I’m very insistent that everything be in the first person when writing or speaking about science. I much prefer teaching regular classes — not honors or AP — and can’t stand kids who remind me of myself in high school.

I approach scientists in the same way and try to make them comfortable admitting that their more than a brain on a stick. I’ve found one of the biggest fears of young scientists is that their PI will find out that they’re interested in something more than life in the lab so I always try to work within the existing power structure and make sure the PIs and Deans indicate to them that working with the (New York) Academy (of Sciences) is okay.

DXS: How comfortable are you expressing your femininity and in what ways? How does this expression influence people’s perception of you in, say, a scientifically oriented context?

MG: This question confounds the heck out of me. I am still such a tomboy and have always chosen to present myself as a somewhat genderless individual. I’ve always considered myself “smart not pretty” because I can control how smart I am but not how pretty. A few years ago, my sisters pulled me aside and told me I needed to stop dressing like such a slob. They started buying me pretty, fashionable clothes and insisting that I wear skirts above the knee and get a real hair cut.

Since I started working at the Academy, I have a very public facing role and have grown to accept that I should look nice. This goes along with slowly feeling comfortable letting my personality out in professional settings but I still consider myself a tomboy and consider my outward appearance to be a costume designed to do a job.

So I guess the answer is, femininity, what femininity?

DXS: Do you think that the combination of your non-science creativity and scientific-related activity shifts people’s perspectives or ideas about what a scientist or science communicator is? If you’re aware of such an influence, in what way, if any, do you use it to (for example) reach a different corner of your audience or present science in a different sort of way?

MG: I think very few people are brains on a stick but that being a scientist often requires us to pretend we have no life outside the lab. I’ve now worked with hundreds of young scientists who spend time working with kids and I’m so pleased to see how quickly they shift from lab geek to real person when talking with a 4th grader. I want scientists to be evangelicals for science, and I want that to include the fact that scientists are real, fallible, wacky, wonderful people too.

DXS: If you had something you could say to the younger you about the role of expression and creativity in your chosen career path, what would you say?

MG: I was always encouraged to be an individual and be myself. I credit my parents with allowing me to pursue my passion and not try to box me in to one identity. It’s never been easy to forge my own path, and I dedicate a lot of myself to my work.

My advice to my younger self would be to slow down a bit, know that you don’t have to get 100% on everything, and know that the problems of the world don’t have to be solved right now.

And perhaps to learn how to be a bit more like a girl. It’s incredibly powerful to see yourself as smart and pretty.

———————————————————————Meghan Groome is the Director of K12 Education and Science & the City at the New York Academy of Sciences, an organization with the mission to advance scientific research and knowledge, support scientific literacy, and promote the resolution of society’s global challenges through science-based solutions. After graduating from Colorado College in Biology and Theatre, she desperately needed a job and took one as a substitute teacher at a middle school in Ridgewood, NJ. She discovered that she had a knack for making science interesting and enjoyable, mostly through bringing in gross things, lighting things on fire (but always in a safe manner), and having a large library of the world’s best science writing and science fiction. After teaching in both Ridgewood and Paterson, NJ, she completed her PhD at Teachers College (TC) Columbia University with a focus on student question-asking in the classroom. While at TC, she was a founding member of an international education consulting firm and worked on projects from Kenya to Jordan with a focus on designing new schools and school systems in the developing world.

After graduating, Dr. Groome became a Senior Policy Analyst at the National Governors Association on Governor Janet Napolitano’s Innovation America Initiative. Prior to her work at the Academy, Dr. Groome worked at the American Museum of Natural History and authored the policy roadmap for the Empire State STEM Education Network and taught urban biodiversity in the Education Department. At the Academy, she is responsible for the Afterschool STEM Mentoring program, which places graduate students and postdocs in the City’s afterschool programs, and the Science Teacher program, where she designs field trips and content talks to the City’s STEM teachers. Connect with her on Twitter, and read her NYAS blog!

[Ed. note: This interview is the second installment in our new series, Double Xpression: Profiles of Women into Science. The focus of these profiles is how women in science express themselves in ways that aren’t necessarily scientific, how their ways of expression inform their scientific activities and vice-versa, and the reactions they encounter.]

Today’s profile is an interview with Mariette DiChristina, editor in chief, Scientific American, who answered our questions via email with DXS Biology EditorJeanne Garbarino. Read on to find out what a Marx Brothers movie has to do with communicating science.

DXS: First, can you give me a quick overview of what your scientific background is and your current connection to science?

MD: Like most kids, I was born a scientist. What I mean is, I wanted to know how everything worked, and I wanted to learn about it firsthand. At a tag sale, for instance, I remember buying a second-hand biology book called The Body along with my second-hand Barbie for 50 cents. “Are you sure your mom is going to be OK with you buying that?” asked the concerned neighbor, eyeing the biology book.

I memorized the names and orbital periods of the planets and of dinosaurs like some kids spout baseball stats (which I could also do as a kid, by the way). We didn’t have a lot of money, so I caught my own pet fish from a nearby pond by using my little finger as a pretend worm. I scooped up my fish with an old plastic container and put it on my nightstand. If it died, I buried it and dug it up later so I could look at the bones. My proudest birthday gifts were when I got a chemistry set and a microscope with 750x. A girlfriend and I got the idea to pick up a gerbil that had a bad habit of biting fingers, just so we could get blood to squeeze on a glass slide. (She was braver than I was about being the one to get bitten.)

In middle school, I was a proud member of the Alchemists—an after-school science club—so I could do extra labs and clean the beakers and put away Bunsen burners for fun. I knew I would be a scientist when I grew up.

But somewhere during my high school courses, I came to believe that being a scientist meant I’d have to pick one narrow discipline and stick to it. I felt that I liked everything too much to do that, however. As an undergraduate, I eventually figured out that what I really wanted was to be a student of many different things for life, and then share those things I learned with others. That led me to a journalism degree. It also means that, as far as knowledge about science goes, I fit the cliché of being “an inch deep and a mile wide.”

DXS: What ways do you express yourself creatively that may not have a single thing to do with science?

MD: This one is a tough one for me to answer because I am always trying to convince people that pretty much everything they care about in the headlines actually has to do with science! In my case, I’ve also always been interested in drawing and in visuals in general. I was a pretty serious art student in high school as well, although I later decided that I didn’t have enough passion for it to make that my career choice. My interest in art partly led me to work at magazines like Scientific American and Popular Science, where the ability to storyboard an informational graphic and otherwise think visually is very helpful.

When I’m home, I really enjoy making things with my two daughters, such as helping them with crafts or scrapbooks, although I definitely spend a lot more time on planning dinners and cooking for (and with) the family than anything else. I like the puzzle solving of setting up the meals for the week during the weekend, so it’s easier for my husband to get things ready weeknights. We’re big on eating dinner together as a family every night. I like gardening and mapping out planting beds. I’m better at planting than at keeping up with tending, however, because of my intense work schedule and travel. In short, if I have free time at all, I’m enjoying it with my family. And if we’re doing some creative expression while we’re at it, great!

DXS: Do you find that your connection to science informs your creativity, even though what you do may not specifically be scientific?

MD: My connection to science informs most things that I do in one way or another. When I’m making dinner, I sometimes find myself talking about the chemistry of cooking with the girls. Especially when our daughters were smaller, if one of them had a question, I’d try to come up with ways to make finding the answer together into a kind of science adventure or project.

I suppose that since I spend most of my waking hours thinking about how best to present science to the public, it’s just a mental routine, or a lens through which I tend to view the world.

DXS: Have you encountered situations in which your expression of yourself outside the bounds of science has led to people viewing you differently–either more positively or more negatively?

MD: It’s more the other way around. I get amusing reactions from people once they find out what I do. How could I seem so normal and yet work in a field that relates to…shudder…science? An attorney friend has sometimes kidded me, saying there’s no way he can understand what’s in Scientific American, so I must be incredibly smart. I don’t feel that way at all! Anybody who has a high school degree and an interest in the topic can understand a feature article in Scientific American. Science is for everyone. And science isn’t only for people who work in labs. It’s just a rational way of looking at life. I also believe science is the engine of human prosperity. And if I sound a little evangelistic about that, well, I am.

DXS: Have you found that your non-science expression of creativity/activity/etc. has in any way informed your understanding of science or how you may talk about it or present it to others?

MD: I think it’s helpful to look to non-science areas for ideas about ways to help make science appealing, especially for people who might be intimidated by the subject. My main job is to try to make a connection for people to the science we cover in Scientific American. I once had a boss at Popular Sciencewho made all us editors take an intensive, three-day screenwriting course that culminated in the showing and exposition, scene by scene, of the structure and writing techniques of Casablanca. When I came back, he gave me a big grin and said, “So, what did you think?” I got his point about bringing narrative techniques into feature articles. Like most people, I enjoy movies and plays; now I also look at them for storytelling tips. And there are lots of creative ways to tell science stories beyond words: pictures, slide shows, videos, songs. Digital media are so flexible.

DXS: How comfortable are you expressing your femininity and in what ways? How does this expression influence people’s perception of you in, say, a scientifically oriented context?

MD: I was the oldest of three daughters raised by a single dad (my mom died when I was 12) and I was always a tomboy, playing softball through college and so on. So I can’t say I’ve ever been terribly feminine, at least in the stereotypical ways. At the same time, I’m obviously a wife and a mother who, like most parents, tries not to talk about my kids so often that it’s irritating to friends and coworkers. I once was scolded in a letter from an irritated reader after I had mentioned my kids in a “From the Editor” column about education. He wrote that if I was so interested in science education and kids, I should go back home and “bake cookies.” I laughed pretty hard at that.

DXS: Do you think that the combination of your non-science creativity and scientific-related activity shifts people’s perspectives or ideas about what a scientist or science communicator is? If you’re aware of such an influence, in what way, if any, do you use it to (for example) reach a different corner of your audience or present science in a different sort of way?

MD: I’m sure that’s true. I think personality and approach also might shift perspectives. A girlfriend of mine once called me “the friendly face of science.” I guess I smile a lot, and I like to meet people and try to get to know them. That ability—being able to make a personal connection to different people—is important for every good editor. My job, essentially, is to understand your interests well enough to make sure Scientific American is something that you’ll enjoy each day, week, month.

Increasingly, also, the audiences are different in different media, so we need to understand how to flex the approach a bit to appeal to those different audiences. In print, for instance, according to the most recent data we have from MRI, the median age of Scientific American readers is 47, with 70 percent men and 30 percent women. The picture is quite different online, where, according to Nielsen, our median age is 40 and the male/female ratio is closer to half and half, with 56.5 percent men to 43.5 percent women. You need to bring a lot of creative thinking to the task of how to make one brand serve rather different sets of people.

Fortunately, I have terrific, creative staff! And another part of the way you do that, I think, is to invite your readers in to collaborate; we’ve done a bit of that in the past year on http://www.scientificamerican.com/, and I’m looking forward to experimenting further in the coming months. Ultimately, I’d like to turn Scientific American from a magazine with an amazing 166-year tradition of being a conduit of authoritative information about science and technology into a platform where curious minds can gather and share.

DXS: If you had something you could say to the younger you about the role of expression and creativity in your chosen career path, what would you say?

MD: I was pretty determined to do something—whatever it was—that would let me satisfy my curiosity and passion about science. I would tell younger me, who, by the way, never intended to go into magazine management: It’s just as fun, rewarding and creative to be a science writer as you suspect it might be. I’d also tell the younger me something that didn’t occur to me early enough to pull it off—that a double major in journalism and science might be a good idea. And, I would add, it’s also a good idea to take some business classes, so you’ll be better armed for dealing with the working world.

Featured today are 10 more women who broke boundaries by their presence in physics. They lived from 1711 to 2000. While I again limited information to one paragraph, I tried to highlight how they got their start, what universities, family members, and scientists were supportive of them. For these women, without the support of fathers, mothers, husbands, and mentors (all male with one exception) their life in science would not have happened. While barriers are not as difficult today as they were at the times these women made their way, it is a testament to what can be done when families and scientists support each other. These women are an inspiration and I hope you look up more information for them. In addition, I’d love to hear who your favorite women in science are in the comments.

Laura Bassi (1711-78) lectured on science until a few hoursbefore her death. An Italian scientist of international fame and one of the first women physicists in western history, Dr. Bassi earned her doctorate in philosophy and science through public debate from the University of Bologna. The University of Bologna offered Dr. Bassi a position in an effort to be known as a leader in women’s education. Unfortunately, this forward step was not acceptable to much of the rest of the world’s academic community and required stipulations to Dr. Bassi teaching. However, she countered these limitations with determination and passion. Her appointment to full membership in the Bendettini Academics also deterred some naysayers of Dr. Bassi’s involvement in research and teaching. In order to further her career, she married. A married woman could achieve more than a single woman at that time. Her death in 1778 was unexpected, especially as she had participated in an Academy of Sciences lecture on a few hours before.

Margaret Eliza Maltby (1860-1944) was a recognized scientistand advocate for women in science.She overcame the education offered to women by taking extra courses in order to attend Oberlin College and receive a B.A. She studied with the Art Students’ League in New York City to explore her interest in art and then taught high school before enrolling as a “special student” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), receiving her B.S. Oberlin recognized this extra effort by awarding Dr. Maltby an M.S. She became a physics instructor at Wellesley College. She was encouraged in her graduate students by an AAUW fellowship to attend Göttingen University, which culminated in Dr. Maltby being the first American woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics from any German university. Dr. Maltby worked as an instructor, a researcher, and administrator in many universities and colleges in the U.S. and abroad. Her stature as a scientist was acknowledged with her entry in the first edition of AmericanMen of Science. She also was active in the AAUW, advocating for women to gain education and enter scientific fields. After her retirement from university life, she maintained her interest in the arts.

Irène Joliot-Curie (1897-1956) was a Nobel Prize Laureate for “artificial radioactivity.”Born to the woman every person thinks of as the epitome of a woman in science, Marie Curie, Irène had an extremely close relationship with her paternal grandfather. Her schooling was outside of the standard schooling type, her first years at home and her latter years in a science and math heavy co-operative school of Madame Curie’s colleagues. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the Collège Sévigné and went on to study at the Sorbonne. She received her doctorate in 1925 based on work with her mother at the Radium Institute of the Sorbonne. She married Frédéric Joliot, another research assistant of Madame Curie’s. Dr. Joliot-Curie continued her research, interrupted by a stint as Undersecretary of State for Scientific Research, one of the first high government posts to be offered to a woman. She worked as a professor for the Sorbonne and director of the Radium Institute, but was not admitted to the Academy of Sciences due to discrimination despite her work. She died, like her mother, of acute leukemia. Her scientific work was complemented by her love of physical activity and motherhood.

Katharine Burr Blodgett (1898-1979) was a woman with an amazing number of firsts. Born to a widow, she was a world citizen in her formative years, attended high school at a private school in New York City, won a scholarship to attend Bryn Mawr, and graduated second in her class there. She received her Master’s degree from the University of Chicago, then headed off to work with Nobel Laureate Irving Langmuir at General Electric (GE) and becoming the first woman research scientist there. She was able to work with Nobel Laureate Sir Ernest Rutherford and earn her Ph.D. from Cambridge University as the first woman to earn a doctorate from Cambridge. She returned to GE. During her career, she invented many applications and is credited with six patents. She achieved much when many women did not, but her work was de-valued in the media. She did earn recognition from her peers, including the ACS Garvan Medal, the Photographic Society of America Progress Medal, and a day named after her in her hometown of Schenectady, NY. In addition to her scientific life, she enjoyed gardening, civic engagement, acting, and “dart[ing] about Lake George in a fast motor boat.”

Astrophysicist Charlotte Emma Moore Sitterly (1898-1990) was an authority on sun composition. She started her career as an excellent student with extracurricular interests, attending Swarthmore College to earn her B.A. Upon graduation, she accepted a position as a mathematics computer at Princeton University Observatory, one of the few employment opportunities available to science inclined women at the time. A stint at the Mount Wilson Observatory led to results published a 1928 monograph which was considered the authoritative work on the solar spectrum for four decades. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1931. Her work earned her the Annie J. Cannon Prize, Silver and Gold Medals from the Department of Commerce, and several honorary doctorates in the U.S. and abroad. She was the first woman elected foreign associate by the Royal Astronomical Society of London. Her enthusiasm for her work continued until her death.

Nuclear Physicist Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906-1972) was the second woman to win the physics Nobel. Her early education was public education for girls followed by a private school founded by suffragettes. Circumstances led Dr. Goeppert-Mayer to take her exiting exams a year early, passing them she attended the University of Göttingen for her college education in mathematics. She continued to study physics at the University of Göttingen, earning her Ph.D. in 1930. She also married that year. The couple moved to America in hopes of better career trajectory for Dr. Goeppert-Mayer. Finding a position was difficult. When she had her first child, she stayed home with her for one year, then returned to research. While her positions were always part-time and not well recognized, she grew a well-respected network of collaborators. This network led to work with Hans Jensen which won her the Nobel Prize, shared with Jensen. Her network also eventually led to a full professorship position after 20 years of volunteer work. During this time, her health began to fail. She persevered with her work, publishing her last paper in 1965. The American Physical Society established an award in her honor in1985.

Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber (1911-1998) was a respected researcher.She grew up in a time in Germany where girls were expected to become schoolteachers. She had a fascination with numbers, and eventually studied physics at the University of Munich, receiving her PhD in 1935. She fled Germany during the rise of the Nazis due to being Jewish, arriving in the United States and becoming a citizen in 1944. She had a wide involvement in the various National Laboratories studying nuclear physics. She also maintained several committee positions in the science community. She was also a strong advocate for women in the science community, forming a Women in Science group at Brookhaven National Lab and supporting other similar groups elsewhere. After her retirement from research, she continued interests in the history of science, outdoor activities, and art.

Physicist, Molecular Spectroscopist Leona Woods MarshallLibby (1919-1986)Leona Woods grew up on a farm and was known for her inexhaustible energy. She attained her B.S. in chemistry from the University of Chicago when she was only 19 years old, and earned her PhD 5 years later. She worked as the only woman and youngest member of the Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory, a secret war group led by Enrico Fermi who built the world’s first nuclear fission reactor during her graduate work. Dr. Woods’ expertise was essential to the undertaking. She married another member of her team. She hid her first pregnancy until 2 days before her son’s birth. She took one week off before returning to work. Childcare was provided by her mother and sometimes Fermi’s bodyguard, John Baudino. Dr. Marshall was encouraged by Fermi as a female physicist. In the late 1950s, Dr. Marshall was divorced from her husband, pursuing her own career. In the early 1960s, Dr. Marshall moved to Colorado to work and married Willard Libby. Her mind was always considering any number of problems from many angles. She worked up until her death and was honored posthumously for her work, along with Lise Meitner, Marie Curie, and Irene Joliot-Curie.

Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997) was a foremost experimental physicist of modern era. She was encouraged as a girl to pursue her schooling as far as possible. This led her to teaching training, which lacked science so she taught herself physics, chemistry, and mathematics. She graduated high school with the highest grades in her class, earning her a place at the National Central University in Nanjing. She taught and did research upon graduation, then moved to the United States to pursue graduate studies. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California – Berkeley in 1940, four years after leaving China. She was known for her expertise in nuclear fission and was consulted by top scientists. Despite this, her gender and nationality hindered her finding appropriate employment due to discrimination on both accounts. She married and started a teaching career, although she missed research. Upon the recommendation of Ernest Lawrence, she received offers from several Ivy League schools who were not accepting female students at the time. She became Princeton’s first woman instructor at that time. She was offered several positions, including back in China, but chose to remain in the U.S. to raise her son. She was unable to return to China until 1973. She worked at Columbia for many decades and earned accolades for her work.

Xide Xie (1921-2000) is a woman in China who needs no introduction. Her early life involved much moving due to war and ill health, during which she taught herself English, calculus, and physics. She graduated in 1942 with a degree from Xiamen University. She moved to the United States to receive her master’s degree from Smith College in 1949 and her Ph.D. in physics from M.I.T. in 1951. She married in England and returned to China, despite the political climate. She taught and did research at the prestigious Fudan University. During the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, she was detained, publicly humiliated, and endured breast cancer. After this upheaval, she returned to Fudan University, growing the physics department and achieving more esteemed positions in the University and government. She had also remained connected to her family, caring for her husband through lengthy illness. Her achievements were internationally recognized.

Awards Mentioned

Benedettini Academics were a select group of scholars from the Academy of Sciences created and named for Pope Benedict XIV to conduct research and present it annually at Academy meetings. This appointment escalated the prestige of the scientist above that given by being a member of the Academy of Sciences.

American Association for University Women (AAUW): Margaret Maltby received the European Fellowship from the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, which became the AAUW. This fellowship was specifically intended to help American women pursue graduate studies to circumvent rules that did not allow women to enroll in coeducational universities or earn graduate degrees.

The Nobel Prize is an international award given in several fields. It is one of the most prestigious awards for scientists in the eyes of the public.

The Garvan Medal is an award from the American Chemical Society to recognize distinguished service to chemistry by women chemists.

For decades, biology textbooks have stated this as fact: “Women are born with all the eggs, or oocytes they will ever have.”1 The assumption — which shapes research on infertility and developmental biology, as well as women’s mindsets about their biological clocks — is that as women age, they use up those reserves they are born with. With each menstrual cycle, egg by egg, the stockpile wears down.

But is it true that women can’t produce any new oocytes in their adult life? Over the past decade, some scientists have begun to question the long-held assumption, publishing evidence that they can isolate egg-producing stem cells from adult human ovaries.

Last week, biologist Allan Spradling of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Carnegie Institution for Science, cast a shadow over those findings with a new analysis of the ovaries of adult female mice, which have similar reproductive systems to humans. By his measures of new egg formation, which he has previously studied and characterized during fetal development, there were no signs of activity in the adults.

“Personally, I think it’s quite clear,” says Spradling. “All the evidence has always said this. When oocyte development is going on, you see cysts everywhere. When you look at adults, you don’t see any.”

An oocyte, or egg cell, surrounded by some supporting cells.

The new paper does little to change the direction of those researchers already pursuing the stem cells, though. Jonathan Tilly of Massachusetts General Hospital was among the first to publish evidence that mice and human females have adult germ-line stem cells that can make new eggs.

“There’s so much evidence now from so many labs that have purified these cells and worked with these cells,” says Tilly. “What I don’t find of value is to say these cells don’t exist.”

For now, the two sides remain fractured — Spradling sees weaknesses in the way Tilly and others have isolated cells from the ovaries and suspects that the properties of the cells could change when they’re outside the body. And Tilly proposes that Spradling’s new data could be interpreted in a different way that in fact supports the presence of stem cells.

For women hoping for a scientific breakthrough to treat infertility — or even those simply curious about how their own body works — a consensus on the answer would be nice. But the continued probing on both sides may be just as much a boon to women’s health. After all, it’s questions like these that drive science forward.

In his new study, Spradling labeled a spattering of cells in the ovaries of female mice with fluorescent markers to make them visible and watched them as the mice aged. If any labeled cells were egg-producing stem cells, he says, they would spread the fluorescence as they made clusters of new eggs.

“But you never see clusters,” Spradling says. “Not once.”

In the process of this study, though, Spradling made new observations about how egg cells develop into their final form in female mice, published in a second paper this month. As the precursor cells to eggs mature, they lump together into cysts, a phenomenon also seen in the flies that Spradling has spent decades studying. In flies, one cyst eventually forms one egg. But in the mice, he discovered, those cysts break apart and form multiple eggs.

“This actually leads us to propose a new mechanism for what determines the number of oocytes,” says Spradling. And, of course, that means a better understanding of reproductive biology.

On the side of those who are confident about the existence of adult ovarian stem cells, the field of fertility medicine could be revolutionized if the cells that Tilly has isolated from ovaries can form healthy egg cells that can be fertilized in vitro. These stem cells could also be a tool to study more basic questions on oocyte development and formation or a screening platform for fertility drugs. Tilly is confident enough in the research that he has founded a company, OvaScience, to pursue the commercial and clinical potential of isolating the stem cells.

“The value for the lay public is that we have a new tool in our arsenal,” says Tilly.

Spradling doesn’t argue that continued research in this area isn’t a good thing. “Scientific knowledge doesn’t just come from the proposal of ideas, but also from their rigorous tests,” he says. “I think the most powerful tool we have in medical science is basic research,” he adds, referencing research using cell and animal studies. Investigations of the basics of how and when oocytes form, he says, are the best way forward toward developing ways to improve egg cell formation or development and could even lead to infertility treatments.

So if it finds support from further studies, Spradling’s new work — which states bluntly right in its title that “Female mice lack adult germ-line stem cells” — needn’t be seen as bad news for those dreaming of a breakthrough in understanding fertility. Instead, whether or not egg stem cells end up having clinical value, it’s a step forward in advancing understanding about women’s reproductive biology.

As Spradling puts it: “You have a much better chance of actually helping someone with infertility if you know what the real biology is. Right now, we’re a ways from really understanding the full biology, but we’re making progress.”

1 Direct quote from the third edition of “Human Physiology: An Integrated Approach”, one published by Pearson Education in 2004 and used in medical school classes. Continue reading →

This edition of the Notable Women in Science series presents modern astronomers. Many of these women are currently working in fields of research or have recently retired. As before, pages could be written about each of these women, but I have limited information to a summary of their education, work, and selected achievements. Many of these blurbs have multiple links, which I encourage you to visit to read extended biographies and learn about their current research interests.

Vera Cooper Rubin was making advancements decades ahead of popularity of her research topic. She received her B.A. from Vassar College, M.A. from Cornell University, and her Ph.D. from Georgetown University in the 1940s and 50s. She continued at Georgetown University as a research astronomer then assistant professor, and then moved to the Carnegie Institution. Among her honors is her election to the National Academy of Sciences and receiving the National Medal of Science, Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.She was only the second female recipient of this medal, the first beingCaroline Herschel. She has had an asteroid and the Rubin-Ford effect named after her. She is currently enjoying her retirement.

Nancy Grace Roman has a lifetime love for astronomy. She received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in the 1940s. She started her career as a research associate and instructor at Yerkes Observatory, but moved on due to a low likelihood of tenure because of her gender. She eventually moved through chief and scientist positions to Head of the Astronomical Data Center at NASA. She was the first female to hold an executive position at NASA. She has received honorary D.Sc. from several colleges and has received several awards, including the American Astronautical Society’s William Randolf Lovelace II Award and the Women in Aerospace’s LIfetime Achievement Award. She is currently continuing to inspire young girls to dream big by consulting and lecturing by invitation at venues across the U.S.

Catharine (Katy) D. Garmany researches the hottest stars. Dr. Garmany earned her B.S. from Indiana University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in the 1960s and 70s. She continued with research and teaching at several academic institutions. She has served as past president of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and received the Annie Jump Cannon Award. She is currently associated with the National Optical Astronomy Observatory with several projects.

Elizabeth Roemer is a premier recoverer of “lost” comets. She received her B.A. and Ph.D. from University of California – Berkeley in the 1950s. She spent some time as a researcher at U.S. Observatories before going to the University of Arizonaand moving through the professorial ranks. She has received several awards, including Mademoiselle Merit Award, one of only four recipients of the Benjamin Apthorp Gould Prize from the National Academy of Sciences, and a NASA Special Award. She is currently Professor Emerita at the University of Arizona with research interests in comets and minor planets (“asteroids”), including positions (astrometry), motions, and physical characteristics, especially of those objects that approach the Earth’s orbit.

Margaret Joan Geller is a widely respected cosmologist.She received her A.B. from the University of California-Berkeley, and M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University in the 1970s. She moved through the professorial ranks at Harvard University and is currently an astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Some of her awards include the MacArthur “Genius” Award and the James Craig Watson Award from the National Academy of Sciences. She continues to provide public education in science through written, audio, and video media.

In 1995, the majestic spiral galaxy NGC 4414 was imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope as part of the HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale. An international team of astronomers, led by Dr. Wendy Freedman of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, observed this galaxy on 13 different occasions over the course of two months.

Wendy Laurel Freedman is concerned with the fundamental question”How old is the universe?”She received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in the 1970s and 80s. After earning her Ph.D. she joined Observatories of the Carnegie Institution in Pasadena, California as a postdoctoral fellow and became faculty a few years later, as the first woman to join the Observatory’s permanent scientific staff. She has received several awards and honors, among them the Gruber Cosmology Prize. Her current work is focusing on the Giant Magellan Telescope and the questions it will answer.

Heidi Hammel is known as an excellent science communicator, researcher, andleader. She earned her B.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii in the 1980s. At NASA she led the imaging team of the Voyager 2’s encounter with Neptune and became known for her science communication for it. She returned to MIT as a scientist for nearly a decade. Among her honors, she has received Vladimir Karpetoff Award , Klumpke-Roberts Award, and the Carl Sagan Medal. She is currently at the Space Science Institute with a research focused on ground- and space-based studies of Uranus and Neptune.

Judith Sharn Young was inspired by black holes. She earned her B.A. from Harvard University and her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in the 1970s. She began her academic career at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, proceeding through the professorial ranks. She has earned several honors, including the Annie Jump Cannon Prize, the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award, and a Sloan Research Fellowship. She is currently teaching and researching galaxies and imaging at the University of Massachusetts.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell is the discoverer of pulsars. She earned her B.Sc. from the University of Glasgow and her Ph.D. from Cambridge University in the 1960s. After her graduation, she worked at the University of Southampton in research and teaching, and continued to work in research positions at several institutions. She is well known for her discovery of pulsars, which earned her research advisor a Nobel Prize. Among her awards are the Albert A. Michelson Prize, Beatrice Tinsley Prize, Herschel Medal, Magellanic Premium, and Grote Reber Metal. She has received honorary doctorates from Williams College, Harvard University, and the University of Durham. She is currently Professor of Physics and Department Chair at the Open University, England.

If you have been watching tweets from @DoubleXSci since early December, you’ll have noticed tweets about Notable Historical and Modern Women in Science. Nearly 100 women were presented over twitter. Those women will be presented in a series here on the blog with the original tweeted links and information as well as with some additional information not able to be presented in 140 characters. We hope you look up more on these women.

(1893-1975) Dr. Bilger received her PhD in chemistry from the University of Cinncinnati in 1916. She graduated and went straight into a position as head of the chemistry department at Sweet Briar College. A brief stint at the University of Cinncinnati gave her skills that she later used in her position as Chair of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hawaii to design a new chemistry laboratory facility. Her post as University of Hawaii Department Head began in 1943 and lasted 11 years. Her research was on asymmetric nitrogen compounds, for which she won the Garvan Medal.

(1890-1972) Born in Bogota, Columbia of missionaries, she arrived in the U.S. to attend high school. Dr. Caldwell was supported by her family in her pursuit of education and science. Due to gender restrictions, Caldwell attended a women’s college and stayed on there for teaching initially. This gave her the start on what she is known for: being a role model and mentor for other women for six decades. She received her A.B in 1913 from Western College for Women, her master’s degree in 1919 from Columbia, and her PhD in 1921 from Columbia, where she stayed on to teach. She entered the relatively new at the time field of nutritional chemistry, laying the groundwork for those after her. While Caldwell was well-known for the quality of research and diligence in her work, she also maintained a work-life balance, as an avid hiker, doting aunt, and gardener.

(1880-1972) Emma Perry Carr first attended Mr. Holyoke College then transferred to and received her B.S. from the University of Chicago in 1905. After a short duration as an instructor at Mt. Holyoke, Dr. Carr returned to the University of Chicago to receive her PhD in 1910. She returned to Mt. Holyoke to become a full professor and head of the department by the age of 33, a post she held for 33 years. Dr. Carr was also a devoted aunt,a fashionable dresser, and a talented storyteller. She had a relationship with Mary Sherrill, another professor at Mt. Holyoke, whom she shared a residence with for 26 years. Emma Perry Carr was the first recipient of the Garvan Medal.

(1867-1934) Much has been written about Marie Curie. She is, perhaps, the first historical figure to come to mind when a person says “Notable Woman in Science.” She is the first person to have been a twice Nobel Laureate. Marya Sklodowska was born in Poland, and lived through the loss of her eldest sister and mother by age 11. After graduating first her in class from high school, she attended a secret university because Polish universities could not admit women. She wished to go to Paris to study, so she worked and saved her money to do so. She was the first women to receive her Licence es Sciences Physiques from the Sorbonne in 1893, graduating first in her class again. She received her Licence es Sciences Mathematiques in 1894 from the same institution. In 1903, she attained her PhD from the University of Parish, the same year she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Difficulties continued in her personal life, such as the death of her husband in 1906, her own ill health due to radiation poisoning, and her constant fight for her place in her work. She broke so many barriers, being the first woman in so many circumstances.

(1909-1997) Mary Feiser was encouraged by her parents to excel academically. She attended Bryn Mawr and received her B.S. in chemistry in 1930. She then attended Radcliffe college and worked on her master’s thesis in the lab of Louis F. Feiser at Harvard. She received her A.M. in 1931 and married in 1932. She opted to continue to work in her husband’s lab instead of pursue a PhD because of the funding and Harvard facilities. With her help, 15 papers and 17 books were published by Feiser. However, Harvard never granted her a salary nor official title for 29 years. Even at 85 years of age, Mary Feiser continued to write and publish organic chemistry books, which were well received.

(1876-1950) Dorothy Hahn received her B.A. in chemistry from Bryn Mawr and went to work at Mt. Holyoke College under the auspices of Emma Perry Carr. Together, the two women were a force producing many women chemists. While Dr. Carr ran the chemistry department, it is said Dr. Hahn ran the organic chemistry department. Dr. Hahn pursued and recieved her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1916 due to a fellowship from the AAUW (American Association of University Women). Hahn also preceeded well-known scientists Gilbert Lewis and Irving Langmuir on a theory of valence electrons. Professor Hahn was a huge influence on organic chemistry, teaching, and women in chemistry.

(1906-1995) Allene Rosaland Jeanes was born and raised in Texas. She received her A.B with highest honors from Baylor University in 1928. She graduated with her M.A. from the University of California – Berkeley in 1929. She taught for awhile in a few different colleges, then decided to return to graduate school. She attained her PhD from the University of Illinois in 1938. While she wanted to go into pharmaceutical research, opportunities were limited. She took a position at the National Institute of Health. Her research took her through several government positions and had applications in the food industry. She was honored with many awards, including the Garvan Medal and Federal Women’s Award from the U.S. Civil Service Commission.

(1879-1968) The story of Ellen Gleditsch is not well known in her native Norway nor abroad, and signifies how difficult it was for women to be recognized for their work. She received her degree in pharmacology in 1902. She worked with Marie Curie for 5 years, and received her Licencee es Sciences from the Sorbonne in 1912. She went to work at Yale University despite the animosity toward her from the men at the U.S. institutions of Yale and Harvard and received her D.Sc. form Smith College in 1914. In 1929, Oslo University became embroiled in controversy over the decision to advance Ellen Gleditsch to the position of professional chair, and it took a letter from Marie Curie to help quell the public outrage. During her time in Oslo, she also provided a home for scientists fleeing Nazi Germany. She continued to be an advocate and mentor for women in the sciences until her death at age 88.

(1912-1998) Born in Missouri, Anna Jane Harrison was raised on a farm and her childhood science education tended to be “go out and find caterpillars.” She learned about Caterpillar tractors from her father for that assignment. Her high school science teachers inspired her interest in science, so she went to the University of Missouri to earn a B.A. in chemistry in 1933, a B.S. in education in 1935, a M.A. in chemistry in 1937, and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1940. She was the first woman to earn a PhD at the institution. After meeting Lucy Picket and Emma Carr at a meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), she went on to work at Mt. Holyoke College, carrying on the traditions established there by Emma Carr and Dorothy Hahn. She also has several more “firsts” including being the first woman to chair the Division of Chemical Education of the ACS and the first woman elected president of the ACS in the 102 year history of the organization up to then. She was honored with the honorary degree of D.Sc. from ten instutitions. She enjoyed traveling and once stated, “What I really like is to go places one isn’t supposed to go.”

Mentioned Awards

The Garvan Medalis an award from the American Chemical Society to recognize distinguished service to chemistry by women chemists.Nobel Prize: From the site:

Every year since 1901 the Nobel Prize has been awarded for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for peace. The Nobel Prize is an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank established The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize. Each prize consists of a medal, personal diploma, and a cash award.